One of the most fun things to do in Vienna (and Austria) is just walk. Every neighborhood has some cute little corner, great coffee shop, sushi restaurant, anything. For a history buff and musician like me, the greatest things are the wall plaques on the fronts of buildings, telling you who was born in, lived in, or died in which building... here is just a little sample. More and more to come... (I haven't even begun to hunt down Beethoven and Mahler. These I just happened by...
1) Schubert's Sterbehaus on Kettenbrückengasse. The house in which Schubert died. It's walking distance from our apartment.
2) On the front of a church in Bad Ischl in the Salzkammergut. Bruckner played this organ for the Kaiser when he attended church here.
3) One of my favorites: Maz Steiner's birth house on Praterstrasse. Steiner left Austria in the 20's for Broadway as successful orchestra leader. He ended up in Hollywood. He composed the film scores to (to name just a few...): the original King Kong, Casablanca and Gone with the Wind. John Williams's Star Wars style owes everything to Steiner.
4) Herbert Von Karajan Square, in Salzburg.
5) A house Hugo Wolf lived in in the Salzkammergut. Marisa's Grandfather and her Uncle are both Wolf scholars, having published the official Complete Edition of Wolf's works and his Collected Letters.
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